Udated with new pics .. about 85% now .. Chicken coop and run.

[EE R' Us]

We are reusing an existing area for the coop it's self and building off of the area for the chicken run.

We have a fairly large cottage outback of our main house .. at one point it was an office here in town ..we use it mainly for storage. We are using the side addition in the backyard as part of the coop, the other half I'm making into my potting shed. Walk in the double door, go left to the potting shed, right into the coop. Off of the side addition, we built a screened run area. Since we live in town, we tried to tie the run in with a screened in porch look to it.


The first picture is as we were framing in the run. We used almost all recycled lumber from an old deck .. we are using about 85% recycled materials, thankfully we had shingles left over from when we we roofed out house and the cottage last year.

Here's where we stand today, I'm hoping to have the chicks out there by this weekend.

I need to glaze the windows yet ( scrounged windows ) and make a fake horizonal grid. I have flower boxes already made to go under the windows.

Picket fence is to keep our dogs from jumping on the hardware cloth and to provide a little extra security.

Our chicks that will be going in the coop :

 

[birdlovin gal]

What a nice job! I love the covered run, and think your girls are gorgeous!

 

[LilbitChicken]

LOVE the coop! Great planning! Your girls will be so happy there!

 

[EE R' Us]

Thanks Birdlovin gal & LilbitChicken!

I'm excited to see this project well under way. I have a large wall hung antique enamel sink to hang in the potting shed part, which will make a nice place to clean up the chick's feeders and water them. Plus while front of the cottage is cute, I've always thought this side was an eye sore. It's looking a lot better, plus serving a good purpose housing the chicks.

 

[DarkWolf]

No fair.. You're 1% more done than I am..

Be mindful of the AC unit as they will roost on top of it. You might need to wire it off, else they may end up poo coating the condenser.

 

[EE R' Us]

DarkWolf .. that 1% is critical!!!

We thought the same thing about the AC unit, it's been removed and the window has been shut .. it's hard to see in the last pic because of the hardware cloth.

 

[xtremevermonter]

lol!

 

[EE R' Us]

Here's what it looks like from the road .. a screened addition. We're calling it the stealth coop

 

[Catalina]

Nice!

Looks like it belongs there!

 

[EE R' Us]

Thanks Catalina

I'm up to being about 85% done ..

It's starting to pull together in inside. The 'girls' have moved in .. they have graciously allowed another tenant we were already housing to share their new digs.

Everything that looks like it needs to be painted yet, does .. like the trim, doors etc. It's embarrassing to admitt .. but most of this has been put together with other people's cast-off, curb side shopping at it's finest.

All found objects .. The sink, the big crate under the sink .. which holds bedding and stall-dry, the french door, all the lumber for my potting table .. the top is a little bit of cherry flooring I found, the bottom is old decking lumber that I painted, the scrounged lumber for my shelving, my lights .. which still need to be installed yet, one will go above the sink under the the bottom shelf, one will go above the potting table under the shelf and the one that doesn't match will go above the blackboard door. The blackboard door is my kitchen pantry cast off and it leads to the large part of the cottage. The green board up top is part of a sign I'm making to hang up there.

I still have a lot left to do .. I need to paint doors, trim .. the outside of the sink will be sanded down and re-sprayed with enamel paint. The floor .. for right now I think I'm going to pick a clay colored porch paint and paint it. Then pick up a 5' x 8' outdoors faux sisal rug to go on top of it. Plus I need to fill the shelves, make a sign and do more decorating.

Walking in through double doors, on the shelf is industrial cereal canisters I'm using to dispense chicken, chow, cracked corn, etc.

I need to make up labels yet :

Looking right into the coop .. it's chicken-vision

The dogs like to sit here and dream.

Opening the door and it's Jabba the Babbit who has joined the girls .. he's loving it, they are still deciding if they made the right choice.

Conspiring against Jabba .. he's really a sweet bunny, they just think he looks like a chicken eating monster right now.

Their screen porch beyond , it's 8' X 10' :

Looking left as you enter the double doors :

Sink bottom needs to be painted and I'm waiting for new faucets to come in before it gets hooked up. One nice deep bowl for watering, shallow one for cleaning.

Potting table beside the sink :

From run side, Jabba's house above where the girls live, he has the upstairs apartment on the one side.

Their heater for night time and their baby roost .. as they grow so will their roost and we'll add in nest. They have a 5' x 8' area in their coop. The Jabba's condo built above half.

Looking from the run side door, into the coop and through to the potting shed.